The European Council has received eight applications from cities vying to host the European Banking Authority (EBA) once the UK leaves the EU.
Brussels, Dublin, Frankfurt, Luxembourg, Paris, Prague, Vienna and Warsaw all lodged bids for the EBA ahead of the European Council’s deadline on 31 July.
The EBA is responsible for ensuring effective and consistent prudential regulation and supervision across the European banking sector. Its capture would give significant sway to financial services firms situated in the authority’s headquarter city.
A decision on the EBA is expected in November.
Dublin’s offer is particularly compelling given that more than 15 financial institutions have announced their intentions to set up or expand their operations in Ireland since January.
Since January, and the six months since the UK voted to leave the EU in June 2016, J.P. Morgan, Bank of America, Barclays, Citi, Insurer Legal & General, Northern Trust, Citadel, Tobam, alterDomus, Fundrock, Chaucer, Kabbage, Willis Towers Watson, Bank of China and Beazley Re have all made commitments to Dublin.
Commenting on the commitments, Martin Shanahan, CEO of IDA Ireland, the agency responsible for attracting foreign direct investment to Ireland, said: “It has been encouraging to see so many high profile banks and insurance firms publically endorse Ireland as their destination of choice.”
“Post-Brexit, nurturing talent, delivering a pro-business ethos and maintaining a consistent track record, must all be the priorities of the day if we are to continue to grow the economy at the current rate and remain competitive.”
“IDA Ireland is actively working with financial services firms to make them aware of the many advantages there are to doing business here in Ireland and we expect the flow of announcements to continue over the course of the next few months, albeit, they will be hard won.”
